SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Seek God’s protection and Wisdom
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 64:1-6
Message of the verses: “This psalm begins with a vivid description of the devious ways of the wicked, especially their speech (vv. 3-5, 8). Still the psalmist does not fear that God will lose control of the situation. After seeing His justice at work, the righteous will be glad and trust all the more in Him (64:10).” (John MacArthur Study Bible)
“David was probably serving in Saul’s court when he wrote this psalm (1Sam. 18-20). He knew that Saul was his enemy and wanted to kill him and that most of Saul’s officers were in a conspiracy against him. Though he was the anointed king, David had no authority to oppose Saul, and eventually he had to flee and hide in the wilderness. People give us all kinds of trouble, but our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against Satan and his hosts (Eph. 6:10ff). This psalm instructs us what to do in the battles of life.” (Warren Wiersbe)
John Gill gives a very interesting approach to Psalm 64 in his introductory writings: “This psalm is applied by R. Obadiah to Haman and Mordecai. The enemy is Haman, the perfect man shot at is Mordecai; about whom Haman communed with his friends to lay snares for him, and searched diligently for occasions against him and his people, which issued in his own destruction. The ancient Midrash {y} of the Jews applies it to Daniel, when cast into the den of lions; and Jarchi supposes that David, by a spirit of prophecy, foresaw it, and prayed for him who was of his seed; and that everything in the psalm beautifully falls in with that account: Daniel is the perfect man aimed at; the enemy are the princes of Darius’s court, who consulted against him, communed of laying snares for him, and gained their point, which proved their own ruin. But the psalm literally belongs to David, by whom it was composed. The Arabic versions call it a psalm of David, when Saul persecuted him; and the Syriac version refers it to the time when Gad said to him, abide not in the hold, #1Sa 22:5. He is the perfect man, who was upright and innocent as to what he was charged with in respect to Saul; who is the enemy, from the fear of whom he desires his life might be preserved; and who with his courtiers took counsel against him, and laid deep schemes to destroy him, but at last were destroyed themselves. Moreover, the psalm may very well be applied to the Messiah, the son of David, and who was his antitype, and especially in his sufferings: he is the perfect man in the highest sense; the Jews were the enemies that took counsel, and searched for occasions against him, and accomplished their designs in a good measure; for which wrath came upon them to the uttermost. The psalmist also may be very well thought to represent the church and people of God; who in all ages have had their enemies and their fears; against whom wicked men have devised mischief, and leveled their arrows of persecution; though no weapon formed against them shall prosper.”
Seek the Lord’s Protection (vv. 1-2): “1 ¶ «For the choir director. A Psalm of David.» Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; Preserve my life from dread of the enemy. 2 Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers, From the tumult of those who do iniquity.”
I do not know for sure when David wrote this psalm, and neither do the commentators who I read knew, but it does seem to fit into David’s life when he was living at the court of Saul close to the time when he would flee for his life. We know from the section in 1Sam. 18-20 that David was greatly hated by Saul, and that the officers of Saul greatly hated David too, so David was, humanely speaking in a bad place and so we see David cry out to the Lord in Psalm 64, asking that God would hear his voice. We can be sure that David knew that God would listen to his prayer, but David writes similar words in many of the psalms that he has written for David was very serious in his prayers to the Lord. In the KJV we see the word “prayer”, while in the NASB the Hebrew word is translated as “complaint” in verse one, for David had a complaint that he wanted to talk to the Lord about, and that complaint is seen in verse two. Dr. Wiersbe writes “David didn’t ask God to change the circumstances but to fortify his own heart and deliver him from fear. The fear of the Lord mobilizes us, but the fear of man paralyzes us.” David faced two problems which were the hatred of Saul and the conspiracy of both Saul and his officers. All the while David had the promise of being anointed king of Israel and I am sure that this bolstered his faith in the Lord.
Ask for the Lord’s Wisdom (vv. 3-6): “3 Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword. They aimed bitter speech as their arrow, 4 To shoot from concealment at the blameless; Suddenly they shoot at him, and do not fear. 5 They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose; They talk of laying snares secretly; They say, "Who can see them?" 6 They devise injustices, saying, "We are ready with a well-conceived plot"; For the inward thought and the heart of a man are deep.”
As we read through these four verses we can surmise that David knew the plans of those who were trying to destroy him. As believers today we know the strategy of Satan when he attacks us “so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” (2Cor. 2:11) “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1Peter 5:8) “1 ¶ I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. 3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.” (2Cor. 11:1-4) One of the chief ways Satan tries to get us is through accusation and this can be found in Revelations 12:10 “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.” We can also see this in the third chapter of the book of Zech.
The enemies of David also set traps for him and they were so arrogant that they did not even think that God knew about the traps they were setting for him. There is a story in 2Kings about one of the enemies of Israel who were trying to attack them and every time they would try a secret attack Israel was ready for them. Their king suspected treason among his ranks, but one of his men told him that even whatever he said in his bedroom Elisha would go and tell the King of Israel. They then tried without success to kill Elisha.
It was because of all that David was going through from his enemies that he realized much about the deceitfulness of the human heart and it was for this reason that he sought the wisdom of the Lord. “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5) I want to write a little hear about the attributes of God, of which wisdom is one of them. As we study the Scriptures and look at commentaries on the attributes of God we will have our faith grow in the Lord. Let us take wisdom for a brief moment and see how the wisdom of God can increase our faith in Him and also help us in our prayer life as it surely did for David. We can look at creation in Genesis chapter one and see the wisdom of God. We live on a planet suitable for man to live on so that we have air to breathe and food to eat and water to drink and this is all because of God’s wisdom in His planning to create planet earth. We have heat from the sun which is exactly far enough away from the earth so we do not burn up and not too far from earth so that we freeze to death. Now let us look at God’s wisdom in providing salvation for His people. The problem God faced was that man sinned, which deserves death because of the justice of God. God wisely proved salvation for people by becoming man, as the second person of the godhead, Jesus Christ became a man and took the place of man on the cross where He suffered and died to pay for our sins, and then God through His wisdom and power raised Jesus from the dead to show that He was satisfied with His sacrifice. Man would never do anything like this, only God would do something like this because another of His attributes is love.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Thinking about the wisdom of God, and for that matter God’s attributes is something that give great pleasure to my heart and it also increases the effectiveness of my prayer life and my walk with the Lord for by knowing His attributes I better know my God.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust the Lord to do the best for my mother who is in the hospital with an infection in her lungs. I trust that He will care for her because He is good and wise and know all things and because He has a plan for her life, and loves her. I trust that the Lord will give me contentment even through this difficult time in my life.
3/25/2012 9:13:45 AM
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